96. Those Without Religion: Cory Seibel on the Nones

When they are asked to provide their religious affiliation, they reply “none”. Religious free agents, free to be secular or spiritual. But they definitely aren’t religious. And their ranks are growing. Over the last two decades the numbers of people disaffiliating with any religious tradition has continued to rise. But what should we think of the nones? Why do they withdraw from religious communities? What are their current beliefs (or lack thereof)? What are the future projections for their growth? And is there something Christians can do, in particular, to stem the tide of the loss from their own communities?

In this episode of The Tentative Apologist Podcast I sit down with Dr. Cory Seibel to discuss the nones. Dr. Seibel has a PhD from the University of Pretoria and an MTh from Spurgeon’s College, London. Currently he is a pastor on staff at Central Baptist Church in Edmonton and an affiliate professor at Sioux Falls Seminary in South Dakota.

For the last fifteen years Dr. Seibel has focused his research on generational dynamics in the church and society. In our conversation we focused on his conference paper titled “There Arose Another Generation: Learning from Atheistic and Agnostic ‘Nones’ Who Have Left the Church.”